Monday, 11 June 2012

Malawi civil society has strongly applaud the
government decision to withdraw from hosting the African Union (AU) Summit

Malawi's Vice president Khumbo Kachale announced on Friday 8th June that has decided not to host the AU summit saying it can not be bulldozed in hosting Sudanese president Al Bahir.

"We strongly applaud the
government of Malawi for standing up to uphold and respect international
commitment and obligation especially the Rome Statutes by opting to
withdraw from hosting the 19th Summit of the African Union". Reads the statement which was signed by nine civil society organizations

The statement added that the move to ban Bashir is a clear manifestation that Malawi's new government will not compromise on
anything less than justice and human rights.

The civil society further accused the AU for promotion oppressors of human
rights at the highest level.

"As a state party to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, we are
required to cooperate with the court, which includes executing arrest
warrants. This is made against the backdrop that the ICC has no police
force and thus depends on member states to enforce its orders." Read the statement

They further argued that though invested resources into the
hosting of the 19th Summit has gone down the drain, there are
still of the view that the decision was timely and beyond government’s control.

"We believe that this painful decision
demonstrates our government’s commitment to defending its human rights
record and the interests of Malawi against the potential economic gains
associated with hosting the Summit."

The undersigned CSOs therefore called upon all concerned parties including all African countries and the
African Union to do the needful by way of being agents of
justice and not protect and give immunity to alleged or suspected
criminals.

"In this regard, we applaud countries like Zambia, South
Africa, and Botswana who have made it clear that President Omar Al
Bashir is not welcome in their territories."

They further demanded all African countries that are party to the Rome Statutes to
uphold and respect the determination of the ICC.

"In this regard, we urge
all the African States to continue to put more pressure on Khartoum by
way closing their borders to President Omar Al Bashir."